YouTube have made Alphabet (Google’s parent) a very happy bunny with $15 billion in advertising revenue made in the last year alone.

It’s been 14 years since Google bought YouTube, now both owned by their same-but-not-the-same-company parent organisation Alphabet. All the way back then when the fledgling video site was just getting started and it’s full potential was yet to be seen; Google bet big and paid $1.65 billion for the website.

In Alphabet’s yearly fiscal report they revealed that the video site made $15.1 billion in advertising revenue in 2019 alone. They increased their revenue by 36% from 2018 in which they made $11.2 billion in revenues, a year-on-year massive intake.

It’s important to note that much of YouTube’s income goes back to creators whose videos have gained those ad plays. They didn’t reveal how much of that goes to creators and how much comes back to Alphabet, but Alphabet/Google’s Chief Financial Officer, Ruth Porat, said that “most” of their revenues goes to creators.

Porat wrote: “In 2019 we again delivered strong revenue growth, with revenues of $162 billion, up 18% year over year and up 20% on a constant currency basis. To provide further insight into our business and the opportunities ahead, we’re now disclosing our revenue on a more granular basis including for Search YouTube ads, and Cloud.”

Alphabet and Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai added: “Our investments in deep computer science, including artificial intelligence, ambient computing and cloud computing, provide a strong bade for continued growth and new opportunities across Alphabet.

“I’m really pleased with our continued progress in Search and in building two of our newer growth areas – YouTube, already at $15 billion in annual ad revenue, and Cloud, which is now on a $10 billion revenue run rate.”